Portrait: István Szabó - Who Believes that Actors are the Most Important

The name of István Szabó, the only Hungarian film
director to be awarded an Oscar, is again resonating in the world
of cinema. This comes as no surprise considering that his latest
piece of work entitled Sunshine has already attracted a series
of distinguished film awards. Audience success can be almost taken
for granted, because the film stars Ralph Fiennes, who has found
his way into cinemagoers' hearts since his role in The English
Patient. István Szabó was born in Budapest in 1938
and after finishing secondary school he continued studies at the
College of Theatre and Film. He started his career as a director
with short feature films and achieved his first success with Age
of Illusions in 1964, a film interspersed with autobiographical
elements, about the torturous path of losing youth and becoming
an adult. After Father, Love Film, Budapest Tales and Confidence,
the international film world recognised him with an Oscar, the
most distinguished award, for his film Mephisto. The film's main
character is Höfgen, the actor, who tries to maintain his
security during the nazi era by suppressing his doubts and restraining
his better self. In addition to feature films, Szabó has
directed operas and TV films. He is a member of the Hungarian Academy
of Science and of several film institutions.

His latest work, Sunchine,
features Ralph Fiennes playing the male character in the story
of three generations of a Jewish family. István Szabó has
been preparing for this film for five years, shooting began in
1998 and lasted for 21 weeks, with Lajos Koltai, Szabó's
permanent colleague for the last 20 years, standing behind the
camera. Ralph Fiennes considered the role as a special challenge,
as he had to play three different characters. Before doing his
impersenation of members of the Sonnenschein family, he had taken
fencing classes, learnt singing Hungarian love songs, got introduced
to Hungarian kitchen and walked the streets of Budapest night and
day. Sunshine was made in Canadian-German-Austrian cooperation,
it was shot in Hungary with a Hungarian crew. The film is currently
playing in most European countries, and Ralph Fiennes has been
nominated by the European Academy of Film for best actor. István
Szabó and Israel Horovitz have received an award for best
screenplay and Lajos Koltai received the award for best cinematographer
in Berlin. Sunshine has been nominated for as many as 14 film academy
awards in Canada. And what is the reason behind all the succes?
It is probably partly the fact that not only those watching the
big screen had an excellent time, but shooting this film made all
the film-makers and actors happy, as well. They had a wonderful
time at the shots, because it is good to work with István
Szabó. He does not set the actors for the camera, but works
with techniques that best suit the actors' demands. He says that
actors are always the most important for him. It is only possible
to make a good film if actors feel comfortable in their roles,
radiating spirited and deep-felt emotions rather than planned-out
sensations. That is how a film can become a delightful experience.
For the time being, István Szabó has no plans for
a new feature film. He will start shooting again when he feels
that the audience would consider some of his new ideas important.